Birch Aquarium at Scripps Review

Better for kids, not adults.

I came here by myself and it took me about 30 minutes to get through the entire aquarium, that includes reading all the exhibit information.

The aquarium itself is very nice. There's outdoor tide pools, a cafe by the entrance, and it has a beautiful view of La Jolla.

Good place for family specially kids. Got to see variety of sea creatures

It s an amazing little aquarium, this is the kind of place you go if want to genuinely learn about marine creatures

Great place to take the little ones, has a very nice terrace style outside area overlooking the ocean. Afterwards you can treat everyone to ice cream at the shop just outside the entrance.

Interesting, informative, and fun. Ideal location for everybody. Kids especially excited!

Health of california coast is so important to marine life.

This place is amazing. We went through twice. I especially loved the rescued Loggerhead. She is beautiful.

We love this aquarium! It is just big enough for our 1 year old to have a blast but not be too exhausted and there is a great collection of exotic fish and educational displays. Free parking is a bonus! The membership is totally worth the price too. Very affordable for a family.

If you like aquariums you'll like it here. Cool tanks.

I really enjoyed my first visit here! It is small, but that's okay. They have lots of information and lots of sea life to look at an enjoy.

Great little aquarium. Very family friendly and not chaotic with people.

Amazing place to see sea creatures and to lesrn a few things as you go thru. It also has food out front.

My 2-year old and I always have a great time here. Relatively small but a wealth of good stuff for smaller kids and the views are incredible for adults. Definitely catch the diver show if you can, my kiddo loved seeing a person swim with the fish.

Not a huge place but it was nice and has a great view

Not quite the New England Aquarium but the view can't be beat nor the fact that you are supporting a University! We did this instead of SeaWorld because we wanted to support research and the humane treatment of animals.

Smallest aquarium I have ever been to. It should be called Birch fish tank

Amazing and wonderful place. Hands on exhibits are both fun and educational and support so many conversations with the little ones. An easy 2 hours of fun for all ages. Cafe offers great snack opportunities but an outdoor area is also equipped with tables and umbrellas.

Great place to see the sea life up close but also for a special event.

We expected more, but overall it was a cool place to see. The view of the ocean was pretty cool and so was the sea turtle exhibit.

Lots of things to do here! The aquarium shop was fun and they had touch and learn tide pools. We also made it in time for the kelp forest feeding. Our whole family enjoyed that. You need to get there 10min early for any scheduled event

It was great fun. I love the band Venice and their rock out alter ego the Pine Mountain Logs.
This show was part of the Green Flash Concert series.

It was fun. I wish it was larger and had some fresh water as well. But overall the fish were neat!

The turtle feeding was the highlight! Very interactive, great place to take the kids. Pleasant staff and very informative tours.

This aquarium isn't that big but it has some really fantastic tanks! I would highly recommend visiting! We love seahorses and sea dragons which was the main draw for us and they had just increased the size of these tanks!

This is a quaint little aquarium. The exhibits are likely the most realistic of any aquarium I have attended. The admission price tends not to match the experience. While the exhibits are nice, I spent a large portion of my time searching for labels of fish only to discover the label was not displayed. It's worth a visit but taper your expectations unless you attend with a deep discount.

Kids had a blast. Just enough to see to spend a morning there and then visit LaJolla for lunch on the way back to San Diego!

Beautiful aquarium with some great exhibit. It is not that big but quite interesting. There is a lot of children oriented stuff and a great view of la Jolla shores. Highly recommended

Small, but that is good for kids. Fairly inexpensive compared to other museums

Very crowded 2 days after Christmas but enjoyable nonetheless. Jellyfish, seahorses and seadragons were my favorites!

Cool place. Worth the money and about 2.5 - 3 hours.

Nice little aquarium with a great variety of little fish, also has some tough pools in the back, and has interactive education on the other half of the building. The staff are very helpful and eager to teach kids with questions. Great experience

Beautiful aquariums and the view isn't so bad either

A great place for kids and adults to learn about the ocean.

The food here is great. Love the self serve aspect, it makes you feel like your picking fish out of a real ocean.

Great location. Beach close by. Torrey Pines for a hike. Awesome time with the kids

Good aquarium. You can spend about 1-2 hrs here. If you have a Bank of America card, use it during the first full weekend of every month to get a free admission.

Great aquarium. Views were breathtaking. Loved how the aquarium was organized from cold waters to tropical waters. Follow the numerical order from first tank to last. Wish there was a better shark exhibit. That part was underwhelming.

Beautiful, touching & educational. There are shows and feeding times (schedule is on website). Employees told me a lot of ineresting facts & stories.

I've been coming here since I was a young girl and not I bring my daughter. A great place to take your little ones.

Very nice place. Very well kept and organized. Great source of information.

This place was awesome!! I think it grew since i was there last time maybe 10 years ago. It was a wonderful aquarium with lots of seahorses and sea dragons. I really enjoyed that place!! Oh and the views from the outside are the best ever!!

Very nice place just wish it was bigger or more to view haven't been to a aquarium in awhile so I was still very excited about it but when you can see everything in less than 2 hours....

Long Beach can keep their aquarium; BAaS is a super great experience, very informative and educational, and half the price. 10/10 would go again

Popular aquarium with interesting fish and sea animals. Enjoyed the tide pool exploration and water play areas for young children.

A super cool aquarium with activities for Lil ones it's a small aquarium though so don't try to base your whole day around the aquarium you can see and do everything in 1.5 hours

It's ok. It's a lot smaller than I expected. Half was aquarium and the other half was science.

Honestly this is a beautiful view. However this is more for young children, I recommend it for smaller children. It's a quick aquarium with a lot of little cute creatures but not for 11 and up who have been to bigger aquariums. Get boring quickly.

The intention to make our world better is clear. Support this institution any way you can no matter where you are.

Nice aquarium. Not super big but definitely lots of cool ocean life to see. Big tide pool exhibit and a hands on learning section, plus lots of tanks with fish. Definitely worth the visit.

Lots of fish and some sharks cool exhibits but nothing really cool to check out in the outside ponds

Nice little aquarium. It's not huge, so you can cover it in a couple hours. There seemed to be quite a few sections and exhibits under refurbishment, but it was still worth a stop. Great views from the observation deck!

It was smaller that I had hoped. The aquatic life was scarce but the staff were very friendly and informative. You can tell they love their job.

The tanks with various species of sea life, both animal and plant, were great: well-labelled, good variety, lots to look at. There was also a more child- or youth-oriented area that we just buzzed through. The outdoor tidepool was fascinating, with a docent to answer questions.

Only drawback was the singer and guitarist in the tidepool area. They weren't awful, just totally unnecessary and intrusive (loud)--like going to an art museum and hearing a rock band in one of the galleries. They may have been there only because it was a weekend day.

A little on the smaller scale, but beautiful and educational nonetheless! Get an annual pass!

such a fun place to go and see different aquatic sea life.

Very small place. About an hour here and your done. Food by front entrance not bad

Pretty average all around. Many kids exercises didn't work.

Pretty neat, we had free tickets. I have been to an aquarium before so I probably would not have paid the full cost of admission

I went for a school project, and it was actually interesting. My group and I realized how our Biology class was actually teaching us useful information. The staff was friendly and the video view was gorgeous. My only complaint is the AC. It was rather humid inside of the building and while I understand that certain exhibits need to be warm, I want to view the aquarium not be a part of it.

It closes at 5 and thats poorly advertised that's the only reason I'm giving it 4 stars and not 5. I didn't get to see everything but what i did see was stunning. You can really tell they care about Marine life. It was very interactive, the staff was friendly and their gift shop was affordable which is a rarity in my experience.

Small but very nice educational aquarium center with an awesome view of Scripps Pier.

Beautiful aquarium in a beautiful location. The best seahorse exhibits I've ever seen. The touch pools are natural and fun for kids of all ages. There is a great outside space with kids activities and a lovely view.

Small but beautiful aquarium and an amazing view of La Jolla.

Great encountered with the volunteer staffs, they answered a few of my lab questions for biology.

Fun place to take kids. Educational and interactive activities for them too.

Really nice experience. Very educational and with activities for kids.

Well put together, & a great place for the whole family!

So fun!! An organized aquarium with wonderful vistas out back and lots of activities for toddlers. The offerings and people at their snack stand are exceptional :) good coffee.

Had a Great time little on the small size . free parking great views of la Jolla coastline you can't beat that

Excellent for kids and adults. amazing informative clean friendly. Fun

This place is beautiful. The grounds and the view from it is breathtaking. I only have 4 stars though because it's pricey.

Neatly made and offers some cool activities for kids aswell as eye candy for adults

A nice place to visit if you are around La Jolla with young kids. It is not big nor comparable to other places; so don't raise your expectation. It would not take more than 15 min to visit in & out.

This place has one of the most magnificent views in all of San Diego, that and the jellyfish/sea horses are the reason that I am giving it 3 stars. Most of the creatures here look morose and trapped. Many of them are required to swim a large distance but are unfortunately packed in a compact glass cage with other species (WTH??). This feels less like an aquarium and more like a glass prison for marine life. The staff are extremely friendly and it is welcoming to children but the overall feel of these poor, helpless marine creatures makes this a hard pass for the second visit.

One of the best aquariums I've been to. Very reasonable price and a lot to learn and see

Good salt water aquairum, they have many different displays, and you can spend half a day there. The outside tide pool is very nice. The balcony also has a great overview of La Jolla

There was a variety of fish, the food at the shack was good sized servings for the price. Inside it does get a bit crowded to look at the tanks. Overall there was a fair variety of fish to look at and the neon displays were lovely to see.

Eh, for the price, I was disappointed. However, I have been spoiled by far bigger aquariums and I think that reflected in my opinion of this place. Beautiful views and lots of cool information, I just hoped it would be bigger. Also had a kids area that I didn't go to, so that may make it bigger and better.

Super pretty and interesting! Getting to touch the sea cucumber and anenome was cool as heck.

Absolutely loved this spot and just visited for the second time on a family trip. Great place for the young and old and i think a great representation of conservation and education mixed together...keep it up!

Birch Aquarium is wonderful. Tanks are very clean, marine life looks healthy, outdoor hands on area is always a great touchy-feely experience for all. I absolutely love, love, love the fact that they have such a vast specimen collection from oceans around the world. I especially appreciate the California coast ocean life exhibits as it gives people who swim & play in waters see what marine life lives in our waters.
I did shop in the gift shop and I purchased silver whale earrings, a 1000 piece puzzle and a couple of books about whales. Lovely day spent in an incredible aquarium.

Gorgeous setup, interesting fish and other sea life, great exhibits and presentations. Extremely informative and engaging overall.

Great exhibits. Amazing view of the ocean on the terrace.